DI Bob Valentine

The discovery of a dead banker sends shock waves through the sleepy coastal town of Ayr. And it's up to DI Bob Valentine, recently back on the force after his near-fatal stabbing, to find the killer. But leads are hard to find and the pressure is on from an anxious Chief Superintendent who is being hounded by the media and still has serious concerns about her DI's mental health.

When DI Bob Valentine returns to duty after a narrow escape with death, he is faced with the discovery of a corpse on a kitchen table with a horrific neck wound and a mystery surrounding the victim's missing partner and her daughter. It's all too close to his own near-fatal stabbing. When the murder investigation begins to reveal a tragic family drama, Bob Valentine struggles to deal with the rapidly unfolding events and the terrifying visions that haunt him.

With his near-fatal stabbing almost a memory, DI Bob Valentine is settling back onto the force - until one of Ayrshire's darkest secrets is unearthed. The skeletal remains of a boy, his hands and feet cable-tied, turns up in a semifoetal position during routine drainage works. The boy is soon identified as a missing child from the 1980s, reopening a cold case that was previously thought unsolvable. When the remains of more children are unearthed, Valentine soon finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy linking the past and present through some of the most shocking crimes of his police career.